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Thomas Crimble is a musician who played with Skin Alley and Hawkwind before becoming a central part of the organisation of the Glastonbury Festival from the 1971 free festival until 1999. He subsequently became involved in Nik Turner's alternative Hawkwind project Space Ritual.
He founded Skin Alley with drummer Giles Pope and manager Richard Thomas (of Clearwater fame), a progressive Jazz-Rock band later to be signed to the Stax Label after leaving CBS. Whilst in Skin Alley, Thomas and Giles jammed with Jimi Hendrix and Stephen Stills at the Revolution Club in London.
After leaving Skin Alley, he was asked to join Hawkwind as bass player, replacing John Harrison who had just completed the 1st album. Played in Hawkwind for about 8 months, playing live every night and helping create tracks on the 'In Search of Space' album. He played with Hawkwind outside the official Isle of Wight Festival 1970, which was greatly enjoyed by Jimi Hendrix, although he didn't join in that time.
At the Isle of Wight festival, it struck Crimble that there must be a better way to organise festivals and, through his then girlfriend Jytte Klamer, met Andrew Kerr who shared the same ideas. [1] Having been asked to help organise the 1971 Glastonbury Free Festival, with Andrew Kerr, Jutte Klamer, Mark Irons and Arabella Churchill, he became one of the central organisers then and through working closely with Michael Eavis for nearly 30 years. [1] Crimble brought in Gilberto Gil with ideas from Brazilian carnival, a perfect example of a free, almost spontaneous, multidisciplinary arts festival, becoming crucial to the way the festival developed. [2]
During his time with the festival he formed the festival farm house band, The Worthy Farm Windfuckers, who played on the original iconic Pyramid stage with Johnny Hodge & 'English' John Fox. Thomas also played with Hawkwind at the 1971 festival, as Dave Brock was unavailable. He continued to work with Michael Eavis and the team every Glastonbury Festival until 1999. The Windfuckers also played with Robin Lawrence and Michael Wilding's band in Wales, 'Solar Ben', and many others over the years.
In the 1970s he also ran the Mountain studios, a rehearsal/recording studio in Wales, where he lived from the early seventies onwards. The studios were used by bands including the Thompson Twins, Killing Joke, Marillion, Roy Harper, Saxon, China Crisis, The Slits with Neneh Cherry, Pig Bag, The Pop Group, Max Splodge, Doll by Doll and the Gang of Four. Crimble also wrote songs with John Otway on the 'Where Did I Go Right?' album, produced by Neil Innes.
In 2001 he became a founder member, along with Terry Ollis, of Space Ritual, Nik Turner's alternative Hawkwind, originally Xhawkwind until legal action prevented use of the name. Starting on bass guitar, moving to rhythm guitar (to accommodate Dave Anderson playing with the band) and has now evolved to playing Hammond Organ & Roland XP80 synth keyboards.
He is currently writing film music, songs and jingles. Away from work, his hobbies are gardening and restoring a Victorian garden in Wales. [3]
Hawkwind are an English rock band known as one of the earliest space rock groups. Since their formation in November 1969, Hawkwind have gone through many incarnations and have incorporated many different styles into their music, including hard rock, progressive rock and psychedelic rock. They are also regarded as an influential proto-punk band. Their lyrics favour urban and science fiction themes.
Glastonbury Festival is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, in England. In addition to contemporary music, the festival hosts dance, comedy, theatre, circus, cabaret, and other arts. Leading pop and rock artists have headlined, alongside thousands of others appearing on smaller stages and performance areas. Films and albums have been recorded at the festival, and it receives extensive television and newspaper coverage.
Space rock is a music genre characterized by loose and lengthy song structures centered on instrumental textures that typically produce a hypnotic, otherworldly sound. It may feature distorted and reverberation-laden guitars, minimal drumming, languid vocals, synthesizers and lyrical themes of outer space and science fiction.
Athelstan Joseph Michael Eavis is an English dairy farmer and the co-creator of the Glastonbury Festival, which takes place at his farm in Pilton, Somerset.
The Isle of Wight Festival 1970 was a music festival held between 26 and 31 August 1970 at Afton Down, an area on the western side of the Isle of Wight in England. It was the last of three consecutive music festivals to take place on the island between 1968 and 1970 and often acknowledged as the largest musical event of its time, with a larger attendance than Woodstock. Although estimates vary, Guinness World Records estimated 600,000 to 700,000 people attended. It was organised and promoted by local brothers, Ron and Ray Foulk through their company Fiery Creations Ltd and their brother Bill Foulk. Ron Smith was site manager and Rikki Farr acted as compere.
Nicholas Robert "Nik" Turner is an English musician, best known as a former member of space rock pioneers Hawkwind. Turner plays saxophones, flute, sings, and is a composer. While with Hawkwind, Turner was known for his experimental free jazz stylisations and outrageous stage presence, often donning full makeup and Ancient Egypt-inspired costumes.
Trevor Thoms, known as Judge Trev Thoms and Judge Trev, was a British guitarist, best known for being a member of Inner City Unit, ATOMGODS/ATOM GOD and The Steve Gibbons Band.
Stacia is an Irish professional visual artist who is also known as the former performance artist/dancer with Hawkwind.
David Anthony Brock is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He plays electric guitar, keyboards, bass and oscillators. He is a founder, sole constant member and musical focus of the English space rock group Hawkwind. Brock was honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the annual Progressive Music Awards in 2013.
In Search of Space is the second studio album from Hawkwind, released in 1971. It reached No. 18 on the UK Albums Chart.
Arabella Spencer-Churchill was an English charity founder, festival co-founder and fundraiser.
Doremi Fasol Latido is the third studio album by English space rock band Hawkwind. It was recorded at Rockfield Studios and released in 1972. It reached No. 14 on the UK album charts.
Glastonbury Festival is a greenfield music and performing arts festival on farm land near Pilton, England. It was first held in 1970 and has been held in the majority of years since then in the summer. Its line-up is diverse, including music, comedy, circus and theatre, taking place on many different stages and performance areas.
Andrew Kerr was a co-founder of Glastonbury Fair, the 1971 forerunner of today's Glastonbury Festival. Kerr managed the festival site up to the mid-1980s, helping establish it as the UK's foremost music festival.
The Weird Tapes are a set of music tapes by the English rock group Hawkwind. Issued in the early 1980s, they contain live, radio sessions, out-take and demo performances.
The Text of Festival is an archive album by Hawkwind consisting of BBC sessions and live performances between 1970 and 1971. It was originally released in 1983 after the band had exited their Active Records contract, and has continuously been repackaged and retitled ever since.
The Isle of Wight Festival 2007 was the sixth revived Isle of Wight Festival on the Seaclose Park site in Newport on the Isle of Wight. It took place between 8–10 June 2007. Tickets went on sale at 9am on Thursday 22 February and were sold out by Monday 26 February. It was the first festival since 2003 with no official sponsor.
Space Ritual are a British space rock band, formed in 2000 fronted by Nik Turner, and composed principally of former Hawkwind members. They play a mix of early Hawkwind material and their own compositions.
Skin Alley were a British progressive rock band founded by Thomas Crimble and Alvin Pope in the autumn of 1968. The original lineup consisted of Crimble on bass guitar and vocals, Pope on drums, Max Taylor on guitar, and Jeremy Sagar on lead vocals. Taylor and Sagar left early in 1969, and were replaced by Krzysztof Henryk Juszkiewicz on Hammond organ and Bob James on saxophone, flute, guitar and vocals.
The British space rock group Hawkwind have been active since 1969, but their earliest video release is Night Of The Hawk from their Earth Ritual Tour recorded at Ipswich on 9 March 1984. Since then, there have been numerous video releases covering the evolution of the band; some are professional broadcast shoots, others commercial, and a few are amateur.
